The Office’s Rainn Wilson on Sisters

At this point in his bizarre life much is known about Dwight “Danger” Schrute III, an under-appreciated second-tier paper salesman in NBC’s hit series “The Office.” Actor Rainn Wilson plays the socially awkward, confrontational character who plies children with true/false questions such as, “The black bear is the greatest known bear alive,” only to blurt out, “False! All bears are the greatest known bears alive.” Like many aspiring salesmen, Dwight’s wardrobe is an ill-advised étude in mustard-colored shirtsleeves. Perhaps more troubling than his fashion sense, are his supernatural claims. Foremost among these is his power to recall his own singleton birth after he “resorbed” his twin in utero.

A little-known fact about actor Rainn Wilson is his connection to Oregon. Wilson’s wife went to high school in Portland, and the couple and their young son are also part-time residents of Sisters, Oregon, where they own a small cabin. Wilson was born to “dysfunctional misfits with eclectic and expansive ideas” in Seattle and raised in the Bahá’í faith. Acting took Wilson away from his faith, but his new book and website, Soul Pancake, are an entertaining inquiry into the connection between creativity and spirituality—the things we do to “rise out of our animal-ness.”

1859 caught up with Wilson to ask what Dwight’s Top 5 reactions to rural Sisters would be.

Rainn Wilson’s Top 5

1 – There’s a store in Sisters that makes things completely of antlers: I want a suit of armor made completely of antlers.

2 – Oregonians are like Canadians—impossibly nice and they wear whitewater sandals with wool socks. I think even Dwight would draw the line there.

3 – Sisters is a city completely fueled on scones!

4 – Sisters has a population of 3,000, and 2,800 of them are quilters. Not a lot of testosterone there. We need to bring back some good gunfights in downtown Sisters.

5 – And of course, no story about Sisters can be told without mentioning Sno Cap and its fantastic marionberry shakes.